Subject-Verb Agreement TTP Flashcards
Should we pair up subject and verb in every clause present in the sentence?
Yes, subject and verb must match in number in every clause they are present in e.g.
- *Molly and Blaze were** swimming at the beach, and
- *Estella and Frisky were** sleeping on their beds
In the above sentence in both the independent clauses the subject-verb matches in numbers
How do you identify a subject and verb in the sentence?
The subject is doing or being what the main verb expresses
[Example: “If the boys wearing the green shirts win the spelling bee, their parents will be excited.”]
[Explanation: Who can win the spelling bee? “The boys” hence the plural “boys” is the subject]
What is an appositive?
An appositive is an element of a sentence that modifies or further describes another element of a sentence by naming it.
They are not the adjectives
[Example: My brother John loves hiking in the Ozark mountains.]
[Explanation: The noun ‘brother’ is a general noun, In other words, there could very well be more than one brother. What follows “brother” is an appositive. The appositive “John” further describes a brother and clarifies which brother the sentence refers to. Notice that ‘John’ is simply a renaming of ‘my brother”. Both ‘brother’ and ‘John’ name the same person.]
Find the appositives in the below sentence
Cyrus the Great, founder of Achaemenid empire and creator of the first bill of rights, was married to Lana Del Ray
Inflation, the increase over time in the cost of an economy’s good and services, is the most damaging of all taxes, intended or unintended, that a government can burden the people of a nation with
“founder of Achaemenid empire and creator of the first bill of rights” is the appositive as it refers to “Cyrus the Great”
“The increase over time in the cost of an economy’s good and services” is the appositive as it refers to “Inflation”
What are compound subjects
A compound subject is composed of multiple nouns joined by a coordinating conjunction such as “and”, “or”, or “not”
What are additive phrases?
Additive phrases are phrases that begin with structures such as “along with”, “in addition to”, “as well as”, “accompanied by”, and “together with”
When combined with the subject, they don’t make the subject plural
- Estella, in addition to Frisky and Molly, was sleeping on the soft couch - notice how we have used was
- Sally along with Joe, Bobby, and Sue, is going to the fair tonight - ‘is’ is the verb which we have used
- Together with her coworkers, Lily has been planning a surprise birthday party for her boss all week
Regardless of the placement of additive phrase and it containing a plural noun the subject of the sentence is Lily so we use a singular verb
What are the rules related to the S-V agreement when we have the following conjunctions:
‘or’, ‘either-or’, ‘neither-nor’, ‘nor’
The subject which is closest to the verb takes precedence.
- If we have a plural subject closer to the verb, the verb must agree with it
- If we have a singular subject closer to the verb, the verb must agree with it
[Example: Neither the bread nor the potatoes look very appealing.]
[Example: Neither the potatoes nor the bread looks very appealing.]
[Example: It is unknown whether stagnant wages or the recent cut to medical benefits was the cause of the strike.]
[Explanation: Subjects in the above sentences are ‘stagnant wages’ and ‘recent cut’ notice medical benefits is part of prepositional phrase so it cannot be the subject]
What is strange with the below sentences?
- Found in many suburban areas are coyotes, medium-sized, dog-like animal
- In homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, on a mysterious island in the middle of the sea sings enchanting creatures whose call send ships crashing and lure passing sailors to their deaths
- Notice how the verb precedes the subject ‘coyotes’ but the role to match S-V remains the same
- In the sentence the main clause is inverted and it main verb is (sing/sings). To determine what the main verb should be plural or singular, we have to determine who or what sings. We see that it is the creature who sings. So verb should be ‘sings’.
What are collective nouns?
Collective nouns are nouns that name groups of people or things.
- Usually singular in a sentence
- Plural if the focus is on each individual item of the collective noun
[Examples: “team”, “crowd”, “litter”, “crew”, “band” etc.]
[Example: After the conflict resolution workshop had ended, the team were practicing speaking articulately to each other and using emotional intelligence to diffuse problems among members of the team.]
[Explanation: The focus is on individual “team” members, thus the verb is plural.]
Collective Noun Rules: “Majority” or “Minority”
These can be considered singular or plural depending on the contexts in which they appear
[Example: A majority of the students are already applying for jobs.]
[Example: In today’s world, in which most people have some knowledge of geography, only a small minority believe Earth to be flat]
[Explanation: In the first sentence, it is the individual students who are applying for jobs, not the majority itself so we use a plural verb. In the second sentence small minority refers to a group of people hence we use the plural verb believe]
What should be the verb used with the below sentence?
- The majority of the board members has/have gone home for the evening
- The majority of the team is/are putting on their equipment
- Given the sentence is about different board members, we have used the plural verb have
- The sentence is about the individual of the team hence we need to use plural verb are
What is the difference b/w the below two sentences?
- The guys at the prom look amazing
- Every guy at the prom looks amazing
The first sentence uses a plural verb form look because of a plural subject while the second sentence uses singular looks because of the singular subject ‘every’
The point which I want to make here, some preceding elements in a subject can require that subject take a singular verb even if the subject seems to be plural. When a subject begins with the word(s) “every”, “each”, “many a”, or “many an”, the subject is always singular even if it appears plural
Claire’s inbox is filled with more than a thousand emails, and many an email has gone unanswered
Notice how after using ‘many an’ we have still used the singular verb ‘has’, even if the sentence is preceded by a dependent clause. The words described above do not have to be at the beg. of the sentences for the rule to hold true
What are the rules for S-V agreement for relative pronouns such as “which”, “that”, “who”?
They can be singular or plural depending on their referents. That is, when a relative pronoun refers to a singular noun, the relative pronoun is singular and takes a singular verb e.g.
- The dresser that is on sale is still expensive (that refers to dresser hence singular verb is used)
- The curtains that are on sale are beautiful (that refers to curtains hence plural verb is used)
What are the rules for S-V agreement for indefinite pronouns?
Some indefinite pronouns are singular and always require singular verbs e.g. all those which end in -one/-body/-thing i.e. anyone, anybody, anything, everyone, everybody, everything, etc.
[Exception: Indefinite pronouns with either/neither/whoever]
[Explanation: When combined with either/neither/or, follow the rule of the subject which is closest to the verb.]
Ignore prepositional phrases as they will likely contain plural subjects which might lead you to select the wrong answer choice
What are examples of plural indefinite pronouns?
“Both”, “few”,”Several”, and “Many” these indefinite pronouns are always plural
- Both of my sisters like to watch cartoons on the weekends
- Several of the students prefer to read silently as opposed to aloud
